Students Return to School

Dear Parent and Guardian, a thuistí/a chaomhnóirí,

We are entering our third phase of re-opening our school following the successful return of our ASD classes, our sixth year students and our fifth year students. We are now looking forward to the safe return of the rest of our school community on Monday April 12th.  We all have worked hard to minimise the risk to everyone’s health & safety.  Your co-operation in all of this is essential. 

Having reviewed all our Health and Safety procedures and to ensure that our school is ready to re-open for the return of all our students on Monday 12th April, the following is an outline of our plan to re-open our school as safely as is possible.

Please discuss the following protocols with your son / daughter prior to their return to school:

Return to School Monday 12th April – Information for Parents/ Guardians and Students

The best way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in a school is to minimise the risk of introduction of the infection into the school setting in the first place. This can be achieved with your help through the following measures:

Symptoms of   Covid- 19.  They are:

  • high temperature
  • cough
  • shortness of breath or breathing difficulties
  • loss of smell/ taste or distortion of taste. 

Please be aware that your son/ daughter must not attend school if they have symptoms or signs that may suggest Covid-19 until they have taken appropriate medical advice and testing if appropriate. Students must not attend school if they have been told that they are close contacts of a person with Covid-19.

Return to School Declaration Form

All our parents must complete a Return to School Declaration Form following student’s absence from school following school holidays.

Respect control measures in place

  • hand hygiene – there are hand sanitisers at the entrance to our school, at the entrance to all classes and in every classroom and in strategic places around our school. Please use these
  • respiratory hygiene – coughing into the inside of your elbow
  • physical distancing within the classroom
  • physical distancing outside the classroom and within the school – during breaks, students must remain 2 metres apart
  • the use of face masks at all times.
  • All rooms are well ventilated

We remind parents if a student has been out of the country that they should not attend school until 14 days has passed.

Masks must be worn correctly at all times (no snoods). Please ensure that the mask is the appropriate size to cover both nose and mouth and is not loose. Snoods are not acceptable. If your son/daughter arrives in school without any of these items, they will be sent home.

Please make sure your son/daughter arrives, wearing a face mask, at the Main Gate at 8.50am. Once in the school, please emphasise to your son/daughter to go directly to their designated room.

Food will continue to be delivered to all our students during breaktimes in their designated rooms. Hot food is available every day for all students during the big break (1.15pm – 1.45pm) Students are to remain sitting at their desk while eating and not to walk around the room with face masks down.

Full school uniform must be worn every day.

Our focus on Monday is on welcoming our students back to school and getting them back into safe and responsible routines.  

Access to the school by a parent/ guardian can only be made by prior arrangement. You must ring the school to organise any essential meetings.

Your support in getting them ready for school is very important. We really appreciate your continued support in monitoring your son’s / daughter’s progress and co-operation since the start of this school year and in our final term.

Our priority is keeping our school open until the end of this term and ensuring that our students continue to learn in a safe environment.

Yours faithfully,

Kieran Golden                                                                                    Kathleen Daly

Principal                                                                                              Deputy Principal

Click Here for a PDF of this letter.

Support Numbers

  • We have a dedicated school email at careteam@mayfieldcs.net
  • Your own GP
  • Pieta House – 021 439 5333
  • Suicide Prevention Officer – Martin Ryan – 087 299 5913
  • HSE Mental Health Helpline 1800 247 247
  • Aware have a number of resources on their website at aware.ie
  • Aware support line: 1800 80 48 48

Pre-State Exams

Pre-State Exams

You will be aware that our mock (Pre) Leaving and Junior Cert exams are planned to begin on Monday 8th Feb. 

The pre-exam papers for both Senior and Junior Cert have been ordered, however, given the current situation and in order to support our students,  the decision has been taken to postpone these exams until after mid-term. 

Depending on government guidelines, we will continue to update you on the re-scheduling of these exams.

Students need to continue to engage in their remote classes and to revise.

Regards

Kathleen Daly, Acting Principal

Remote Teaching and Learning

18th January 2021

Dear Parents,

I am writing to you as we begin our second week of remote teaching and learning. We would all prefer to be back in the classroom working with our students and doing what we do best but for now we have to stay home to keep everyone safe.

We have learned a lot from the last lockdown and hopefully the changes we have made to our remote teaching policy will ensure a richer learning experience for the students. The daily engagement on Google Classroom and the blend of live, recorded and independent learning should go some way towards reflecting real classroom teaching.

We expect all students to engage with the full timetable each day. However, we do realise that everyone’s circumstances are different and we ask that you contact us as soon as possible if there are any issues as to why your daughter/son can not engage and we will do our best to help you. 

To support your son/daughter and monitor their engagement you can access MCS ParentPoint.  Email mcsparentpoint@mayfieldcs.net for more details.

Our Student Support team is available at all times to listen to your concerns as a student parent or guardian. Please contact us at: careteam@mayfieldcs.net

Sincerely,

K. Daly  Acting Principal 

J. McMurtry Acting Deputy Principal

STEM Virtual Industry & Career Expo 2021

STEM South West’s Industry & Career Expo is back for its 2nd year next Wednesday 13th January from 5-9pm. This free virtual event will showcase careers in tech, pharma and engineering and highlight achievable pathways for students to fulfil their career goals. There will be expert speakers, virtual stands, opportunities to interact with people who work in STEM on a daily basis, subject choice discussions, interactive Q&A sessions, tech and science demos, career videos and prizes to be won.  

Over 60 leading STEM organisations in Cork and Kerry will be showcasing their work with interactive displays and activities. The STEM South West executive committee are working closely with virtual event organisers Davis Events and platform-providers VFairs to ensure a fun and educational STEM experience for all attendees.  

Exhibition Hall 

Enjoy visiting the virtual booths in the Exhibition Hall where attendees can connect with people who work in STEM, watch demonstrations and career videos, and avail of the advice of experts in a variety of STEM areas including virtual reality, robotics and astronomy construction, mechanical engineering, software engineering, information technology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering and science, electronics, weather-forecasting, agri-technology, environmental engineering, cybersecurity and much more.  

Speakers Corner 

Visit the Auditorium and enjoy talks and presentations by STEM experts including European Space Agency engineer, Laurence O’Rourke; inspiring global sustainability expert and co-founder of Change by Degrees, Madeline Murray; and the innovative creator of Izak9 Maths, Franz Schlindwein; and many more. 

Scavenger Hunt 

Take part in the STEM South West 2021 Scavenger Hunt, follow the STEM clues and be in with the chance to win great prizes. 

Students and parents can register for free tickets at www.stemsouthwest.ie

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE TICKETS TO STEM SOUTH WEST INDUSTRY & CAREER EXPO 2021 

Remote Learning

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We hope you had a Happy Safe and Healthy Christmas and we wish you the very best for 2021.

For the next three weeks we know we will be teaching your son/daughter remotely.

Remote Learning will never be able to fully replace the traditional face to face teaching but we will work together to make sure that the experience for both teacher and pupil is as productive as possible in the coming weeks. The teachers will be following the normal timetable.

To ensure a positive online experience for all, we are asking you to read and discuss the following guidelines carefully with your son/daughter to ensure that his/her participation in the online classes are always respectful and productive.

The Code of Discipline applies to remote learning and any misbehaviour by a student online may result in suspension from online classes. Teaching and learning online is challenging for everyone so we expect excellent behaviour and attention.

Procedures for Students Online Classes

  • Be on time for every class.
  • Wear your School Jumper for all classes
  • Classes will follow your normal timetable
  • Teachers will take a roll call at the start of each classes
  • All student microphones should be muted during class
  • The teacher will unmute students when communication is needed.
  • Students should use the hand-up feature to get the attention of the teacher and wait until they are asked to speak.
  • If the case arises that students need to leave a class early they should make the teacher aware before that classes
  • Students should not leave an online class without the permission of the teacher
  • Classes will finish after 30 minutes to allow pupils to prepare for the next class to allow pupils to prepare for the next class.

Online teaching is our new reality for the next number of weeks, and we expect every student to be present for class. If your son /daughter is unable to attend online classes for any reason, please email the school office admin@mayfieldcs.ie

Teachers will be moving forward with their subject curriculum and the material will not be revisited after lock-down.

Your son/daughter’s engagement is vital and any issues/difficulties he/she has in participating fully with remote learning should be brought to the attention of the school as soon as possible.

Assemblies for each year group will begin at 11:30am outlining how online classes are to be run and familiarise students with the online platform that we are using which is google classroom and we will offer parents the opportunity to join parent link in google classroom to monitor your son/daughters participation in class and homework.

We will send the link for these assemblies by text on Monday morning.

On Monday 11th January we will familiarise students with our learning platform and full classes as per your son/daughters timetable will commence at 9am Tuesday morning 12th of January.

Students assemblies accompanied by parents will run on Monday 11th of January as follows:

  • 1st year assembly 11:30am-12pm
  • 2nd year assembly 12:15pm-12:45pm
  • 3rd year assembly 1pm-1:30pm
  • 4th year assembly 2pm-2:30pm
  • 5th year assembly 2:45pm-3:15pm
  • 6th year assembly 7pm-7:30pm

Kathleen Daly James Mc Murtry

Acting Principal Acting Deputy Principal

Dear Parents and Students

Wishing you all Happy Safe and Healthy New Year.

I’m sure you are now all familiar with this evening’s announcement and the government recommendations for the reopening of schools on January 11th 2021.

To facilitate online learning we have scheduled all year groups with the exception of 6th years to collect their books from school on this Thursday and Friday.The times are as follows:

  • 1st Years on Thursday morning 10 am  to 12-30
  • 2nd Years on Thursday afternoon 1pm  to 3pm
  • 4th Years on  Thursday afternoon 1pm to 3pm
  • 3rd Years on Friday morning 10am to 12-30pm
  • 5th Years on Friday morning 10am to 12-30pm

The plans announced by the Government provide for 3 days in school attendance for 6th year students only and those days are at each school’s discretion.We will update all 6th Year students and parents on Monday evening.

Virtual information meetings will be held for all Year Groups and parents next week.

Kind regards,

K. Daly, Acting Principal

J. Mc Murtry, Acting Deputy Principal

New Extension to Mayfield Community School

New extension to Mayfield Community School

In recognition of the expanding pupil numbers in Mayfield Community School, where a GaelCholaiste was established in September 2020, the Department of Education & Skills has approved funding under the Additional Accommodation Scheme 2021. This funding is for a new extension to the school, including the construction of two new classrooms and supporting facilities, commencing in 2021.

Mayfield Community School is delighted with this announcement which is of substantial benefit to the school and its local community.

K.Daly 

Acting Principal